TikTok will let you use an AI prompt to turn a photo into a video

TikTok has a new AI-powered tool called “AI Alive” that will let you turn photos into video with a prompt to describe what you want the video to look like. It’s a little different from other

You can access the tool from TikTok’s Story Camera, and it uses “intelligent editing tools that give anyone, regardless of editing experience, the ability to transform static images into captivating, short-form videos enhanced with movement, atmospheric and creative effects,” according to a blog post.

I tested the tool with a few pictures from my camera roll. After picking the photo, I could enter a prompt; TikTok initially filled the prompt box with “make this photo come alive.” Uploading usually took a few minutes, though the videos themselves were just a few seconds long. It also failed to make a picture where I asked it to make a cat jump and have an anime style.

TikTok says it has some safety measures in place for the videos. “To help prevent people from creating content that violates our policies, moderation technology reviews the uploaded photo and written AI generation prompt as well as the AI Alive video before it’s shown to the creator,” TikTok says in the blog post. “A final safety check happens once a creator decides to post to their Story.” The video will also be labeled as AI-generated and will have C2PA metadata embedded.

Let’s hope this tool doesn’t add in brand new people, like what has happened with TikTok’s AI “sway dance” filter.